Development and population

By: J. David Chapman/December 21, 2017

I was excited to hear about plans for a new mixed-use district on Broadway Extension, just south of American Fidelity Assurance Co. and Britton Road. I also had the opportunity to tour the new Chisholm Creek district along Memorial Road and Western Avenue in Oklahoma City.

Plans for the Wheeler District are also coming to fruition with dirt being turned as we speak. Last week, I attended an update on the urban Scissortail Park in downtown OKC with development opportunities around all sides. Nationwide, there seems to be agreement among mayors, planners, architects, and developers that commercial and residential density is the best way to grow our cities.

Organizations, such as the Congress of New Urbanism and the Urban Land Institute, lobby for higher-density commercial and residential development as a sustainable development solution to the U.S. growing urban population. In their book Compact Cities, Mike Jenks and Rod Burgess define sustainable development as development that does not require resources beyond its environmental capacity, is equitable, promotes social justice, and is created through inclusive decision-making procedures. There is a high degree of consensus among experts that higher-density residential, containing multi-story apartments, condominiums, town homes, and high-rise commercial, best meet this sustainable model, instead of suburban garden-style office buildings and single-family detached homes. Most of these new developments are subscribing to this ethos.

With roughly 620 square miles of land and fewer than 700,000 in population, Oklahoma City has slightly over 1,000 people/mile. In comparison, Dallas and Houston each have approximately 3,600 people/mile and Tulsa reports just over 2,000 people/mile. OKC remains one of the least dense cities in America.

It appears that Oklahoma City is beginning to address the increasing economic realities of maintaining its sprawling miles of infrastructure and attempting to increase density. The good news is there appears to be an appetite for denser, walkable, bike-able environments, if developers can do so without the pitfalls of poorly designed density, such as high traffic, lack of privacy, and increased crowdedness.

This development does not come without concern. The concern comes that there is a lack of population increase to match these wonderful developments. As the Oklahoma Legislature struggles to pass a budget to fix the ailing economy, I wonder where the people and jobs are going to come from to make these developments successful.

J. David Chapman is an associate professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu)